In a conventional video-on demand (VOD) service of IPTVs or PCs, advertisements are displayed before the consumer/user is providing with their subscribed main contents, or contents are divided into a plurality of sessions and contents of an advertiser are displayed each time a sessions ends. As a result, a broadcasting provider that is a content provider receives a profit or payment from the advertiser each time the advertiser's content is shown to the consumer/user.
According to recent trends, IPTVs are becoming commonplace, and users receive and view various broadcasting contents through a PC over the Internet. However, the video content service of IPTVs or Internet PCs is generalized as a pay service, and thus, customers that are viewers actually avoid receiving pay-per-view broadcasting contents. In other words, all customers using the IPTV service desire to use a pay-broadcasting service at lower charges or at no charge at all.
Therefore, broadcasting content providers that reflect the demands of customers and provide pay-per-view broadcasting contents over the Internet or pay-per-view broadcasting content providers, such as KT, SK Broadband, LG Dacom and the like that provide broadcasting contents in Korea for example, require a differentiated service for making an additional profit for the IPTV businesses without burdening customers.
Moreover, in terms of advertisers, it is necessary to create an advertisement model for maximizing the effect advertisements have on customers that use the VOD service or the IPTV service over the Internet, and particularly, it is also necessary to create a profit model that provides advertisements at a low cost and moreover increases direct sales. In particular, under the current broadcasting law in Korea, real-time broadcasting that is provided through cable TVs or Skylife cannot provide subtitled advertisements. However, in VOD broadcasting contents using PCs on the Internet or VOD broadcasting contents of the IPTV service, advertisements can be provided regardless of whether contents are free or not. In this context, an advertisement service affiliated with this can become the optimal background for advertisers in using the advertisement service.
The present invention provides a broadcasting service system and method which proposes a new profit generation model to a broadcasting content provider through an IPTV or a PC over the Internet, provides a source for providing advertising contents affiliated with a broadcasting content service to an advertiser, and enables a customer to view pay-per-view broadcasting contents for free, thus satisfying all parties.
The present invention also provides an affiliated broadcasting service which splits an entire screen of a customer terminal using screen-splitting technology to receive broadcasting contents, periodically exposes advertising contents of an advertiser, and thus increases an advertisement effect given to a customer that is focusing on the broadcasting contents.
The present invention also provides a broadcasting service which enables a broadcasting content provider to provide an advertisement customized to a target customer, which is preferred by advertisers in general.
In an aspect of the present invention, a broadcasting service method and system, which provides free broadcasting contents according to a viewer's consent to advertisements using an advertiser terminal, an advertisement management server, a broadcasting management server, and a customer terminal which are connected to each other over a wired and wireless network, includes the steps of: (a) performing, by the advertisement management server, user authentication and providing an user interface for managing advertising contents to a plurality of advertisers when the advertiser terminal accesses the advertisement management server; (b) performing, by the broadcasting management server, user authentication of the customer terminal and asking whether the user consents to exposure of advertising contents when the customer terminal requests transmission of broadcasting contents from the broadcasting management server; (c) transmitting and installing, by the broadcasting management server, a control module which controls a multi-screen of the customer terminal when the customer terminal (through user selection) consents to the advertising contents; (d) transmitting, by the broadcasting management server, predetermined screen split setting information to the customer terminal; (e) transmitting, by the broadcasting management server, the broadcasting contents free to the customer terminal; (f) selecting, by the advertisement management server, an advertiser with an IP address as a target by using the IP address in customer information of the customer terminal, and transmitting advertising contents of the selected advertiser to the customer terminal; and (g) analyzing, by the control module installed in the customer terminal, the screen split setting information to split an entire screen of the customer terminal into a main screen and a sub-screen, and reproducing broadcasting contents on the main screen and simultaneously reproducing advertising contents on the sub-screen.
Step (a) may include the steps of: (a-1) performing, by the advertisement management server, user authentication when the advertiser terminal requests registration of advertising contents in the advertisement management server; (a-2) performing, by the advertisement management server, the user authentication and providing the user interface for managing the advertising contents to register and update basic information of the advertiser, target customer information on a customer which desires an advertisement, and advertising contents information suitable for an advertising content type; and (a-3) generating, by the advertisement management server, an advertisement management table database on the basis of the updated information.
Step (f) may include the steps of: (f-1) receiving, by the broadcasting management server, customer information of the customer terminal and transmitting the customer information to the advertisement management server when the customer terminal consents to the advertising contents; (f-2) selecting, by the advertisement management server, an advertiser with an IP address of the customer terminal as a target from the customer information on the basis of the advertisement management table database; and (f-3) transmitting advertising contents of the selected advertiser to a target customer terminal.
Step (g) may include the steps of: (g-1) analyzing, by the control module, values associated with a type of an entire screen, a reproduction time and period of a sub-screen for driving advertising contents, a driving player based on a type of advertising contents added into the sub-screen, and a storage path of advertising contents which are designated in the screen split setting information; and (g-2) fetching advertising contents in a real-time streaming type through the storage path, and reproducing the fetched advertising contents on the sub-screen.
The broadcasting service method may further include the steps of: (i) receiving, by the advertisement management server, information on how many times advertising contents has been exposed to the customer terminal from the broadcasting management server, and calculating predetermined advertising costs and transaction fee in accumulated money of an advertiser in proportion to the number of exposures; (j) generating and storing a database of the calculated advertising costs and transaction fee information; and (k) restricting, by the advertisement management server, advertisement exposure when the accumulated money of the advertiser is insufficient.
The broadcasting service method may further include the steps of: (i) requesting advertiser information from the broadcasting management server when advertising contents reproduced by the customer terminal is selected; (m) retransmitting, by the broadcasting management server, the predetermined screen split setting information to the customer terminal; (n) analyzing, by the control module installed in the customer terminal, the retransmitted screen split setting information to re-split the entire screen of the customer terminal into a main screen and a sub-screen; and (o) providing, by the advertisement management server, an advertisement information list screen user interface to the re-split sub-screen, the advertisement information list screen user interface including advertising contents, information on an order method, information on a reservation method, or information on a payment method that will be displayed by the customer terminal.
Step (n) may include the steps of: (n-1) analyzing, by the control module, values associated with a type of an entire screen, a reproduction time and period of a sub-screen for driving advertising contents, a driving player based on a type of advertising contents added into the sub-screen, and a storage path of advertising contents which are designated in the retransmitted screen split setting information; and (n-2) fetching advertising contents in a real-time streaming type through the storage path, and reproducing the fetched advertising contents on the sub-screen.
The broadcasting service method that provides pay-per-view broadcasting contents at no charge according to a viewer's consent to advertisements can achieve the following effects.
First, the present invention simultaneously displays advertising contents of an advertiser in the lower and upper portions and/or left and right portions of a screen without a damage due to overlapping with broadcasting contents (hereinafter “the main contents”) through a screen splitting method such that image reproduction is not cut off while providing the broadcasting contents from the first portion to the final portion through a main screen according to a customer terminal's consent to advertisements, and thus enables the customer to continuously view the broadcasting contents and simultaneously display advertisements (banners, subtitles, videos, etc.). Accordingly, the present invention proposes a new profit generation model to a broadcasting content provider through an IPTV or a PC over the Internet, provides a source for providing advertising contents affiliated with a broadcasting content service to an advertiser, and enables a customer to view pay-per-view broadcasting contents for free, thus satisfying all parties.
Second, according to the present invention, when broadcasting contents are fully reproduced on the entire screen of the customer terminal and a screen is split, a main screen is reduced to a size less than that of the original image screen for full screen contents, and contents of an advertiser are displayed on a plurality of split sub-screens. Thus, subtitles are continuously shown because the original image is not covered. Accordingly, the customer's viewing ability is not hindered, and advertising contents on the split sub-screens are displayed to the customer at while the user watches the main content, and thus the present invention can increase the effect an advertisement has on a customer watching the main content.
Third, according to the present invention, a broadcasting content provider compares information (e.g., address, age, sex, etc.) of customers who have been registered in an advertisement management server with data that advertisers have preregistered with regard to target customers for advertisements to thereby select matching advertisers and select the selected advertiser as an advertiser for a split screen, and by transmitting broadcasting contents and advertising contents to a customer terminal together with screen split setting information, the advertiser can provide an advertisement customized to a target customer.